Rockhold utilized his reach effectively throughout five rounds,
using his superior length to keep Kennedy on the end of his
punching range. However, though he managed to floor the Jackson’s
MMA representative in round four, Rockhold could not find a finish
against his durable opponent.

“Tim Kennedy is a real tough dude. I think we could compete with
anybody out there in the top 10 and beat them,” Rockhold told
Showtime Sports following his performance. “He’s tough as nails. I
tried to put him away. I know I hit him once pretty good and
dropped him, but he recovers quick. It’s proven -- nobody has been
able to put him away.”

As Rockhold pressed the action for most of the contest, Kennedy
looked to counterpunch while moving in and out of range. Despite
trading evenly with the ever-active champion in several exchanges,
Kennedy found himself unable to land a tide-turning blow that might
have changed the fight’s outcome.

“[Kennedy has an] awkward striking style. He’s hard to read and
he’s backing up a lot, and it’s hard to reach him,” said Rockhold.
“He’s decent at countering, and you don’t know if he’s going to
wrestle or strike. I was a little wary of both and, obviously, I
got caught a few times.”

The prevailing wisdom before the contest was that if Kennedy could
plant Rockhold on his back throughout the 25-minute affair, the
challenger might walk out with the belt. Kennedy’s success in that
department proved limited thanks to Rockhold’s concentrated focus
on improving his wrestling during training camp.

“[I trained to] wrestle first. A lot of times, guys get on my legs
and I try striking. I try pogo-sticking on one leg and try to hit
them, which just gets me in trouble,” said Rockhold. “This fight,
it was wrestle first, strike second. That was the major success of
this fight. I wrestled hard, and wrestling camps are always the
worst, but wrestling is the biggest equalizer in all of
fighting.”

While it is unclear exactly what currently lies ahead for
Strikeforce’s middleweight ace, the American Kickboxing Academy
standout says that he should have no shortage of willing
challengers, one of whom could be Ronaldo
Souza, the man he outpointed to win the belt back in September.
Regardless of whom he faces, Rockhold says he plans to hold onto
his title for some time.

“[There will be] many more [defenses] to come. I’m not giving it
up. I’ll be damned if anybody takes this belt from me,” said
Rockhold. “There are quite a few new middleweights in the division
now, like Lorenz
Larkin and Roger
Gracie, but I think ‘Jacare’ is the most likely challenger, as
long as he wins [his August bout against Derek
Brunson]. Our fight needs closure, and I’d like to have a
chance to finish it.”